Vania



(No Model.) Sheet 1..

. I 2Sheets W. GRIER 33 E. F. BENGLER.

.VEHIGLE SPRING.

n. PETERS. PholvlJlhugmphon Wn'lhi nnnnnnn c.

(No Model.) 2 Shets-Sheetfi.

4 W. W. GRI-ER & E.. F. BENGLER.

VEHICLE SPRING. V No. 354,633. Patented Dec. 21, 1886;

Fl G 6 G? MQT E 5 5 E 5- I I hveqlnrg- W I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

W'ILLIAM W. GRIER AND EDWIN F. BENGLER, OF HULTON, PENNSYL- VANIA, SAIDBEN GLER ASSIGNOR TQSAID GRIER.

VEHICLE-SPRING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 354,633, dated December21, 1886.

Application filed July 26, 1884.

To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM W. GRIER and EDWIN F. BENGLER, of Hulton,in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Vehicle Springs; and we do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is aside view of our improved spring as applied to a buggy having side bars.Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same viewed from the under side. Fig. 3 isa side view of a modification of an improved spring as applied to abuggy having a perch and no side bars. Fig. 4 is aplan view of thespring shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a side view of the outer end of thespring-bar, showing how it is bent round to form a loop for theshackle-bar. Fig. 6 shows the outer end of the spring-bar, illustratingthe way in which it is doubled. Fig. 7 shows the outer end of thespring-bar after being doubled and soldered or welded and rolled intoshape.

In the several figures like letters of reference refer to similar parts.

Our invention consists in an improvement in that class ofvehicle-springs in which a bar of steel is bent into U shape, so as toform a coil or coils at the bend, and is placed with the legs of the Uhorizontally one above the other, the upper leg being attached to thevehicle-body and the' lower leg to the runninggear. An example of suchspring is found in Letters Patent to John J. Oobb, No. 212,791, of March4, 1879. Such springs have been used in pairs, two such U shaped coiledsprings being placed side by side, with the upper leg of each springconnected to the buggy-body, and the lower legs of the two springsplaced side by side, and either connected directly to the running-gearof the vehicle or to a single arm or bar which is so connected. The useof these U-shaped coiled springs in pairs-four such pairs being placedat or near the four corners of the buggy-body-hasits advantages ingiving increased strength of spring without unduly increasing thethickness of the steel bar from which it is formed, and thus producing aclumsy device; but it is attended with the disadvantage that the twosprings of Serial No. 138,853. (No model.)

each pair may not be tempered alike, and that it is difficult to connectthem together so as to secure uniformity of action. These springs arealso liable to the objection, especially when applied to sidebarbuggies, of raising the body of the vehicle too high above therunninggear. These disadvantages are obviated 'by our improvement, andother advantages are secured.

In the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2, our improvement is shown as applied to aside-bar buggy; but it is equally applicable to buggies with or withoutside bars, in which the springs are attached at the forward end of thefront sill of the bodyand to the head-block of the runninggear, and atthe rear end to the hind sill of the body and to the hind end of theaxle, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. These figures represent equally wellthe mode of attachment to the 'side' bars or to the axle or head-blockof the running-gear of the part marked B in Figs. 1 and 2; and the partmarked 0 in Fig. 3 is supposed to represent either the side bar or theaxle or head-block of a buggy, as the case may be. I

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use ourimprovement,we will proceed to describe it in detail.

In the drawings, A represents one of the sills of the vehicle-body, B inFigs. 1 and 2 the side bar of the running-gear, and O in Fig. 3 the hindaxle, or the head-block over the front axle when the springs areattached to a buggy not having side bars.

Our improved spring (of which it is designed to apply four to eachvehicle) is made of a single bar of steel of suitable length,width, andthickness. It may be made of any desired shape in cross-sectionasrectangular, cylindrical, or ovalor it may be partly rectangular andpartly cylindrical, as may be preferred. This bar of steel is first bentin the middle, the twolegs thus formed being brought closely in contactwith each other for a short distance from the point of bending, (seeFig. 6,) which point we shall, for convenience of description, call theouter end of the spring. The parts thus brought together by the bending(for about half the distance, more or less, from the outer end of thespring to the coiled portion) are then united by soldering or welding inany well-known and convenient manner, so as practically to form a singlepiece from the outer end of the spring to the point of bifurcation, asshown in Fig. 7. The bentbar may be rolled, so as to decrease thethickness and increase the width of the doubled bar at the front end, asshown in Fig. 7. The outer end of the spring is then bent round, asshown in Fig. 5, so as to form a loop, I), through which the shackle-barpasses, by which it is rigidly'attached by a clip to the side bar, B, ofthe running-gear, as in Figs. 1 and 2, or to the hind axle, O, orhead-block, as in Fig. 3.

From the pointoc the two arms or branches ca of the bent bar a arebifurcated or spread apart more or less, as may be desired, for a lengthequal to about half the distance from the center of the coiled part tothe center of the loop b. Each of the arms or branches a a of the steelbar is then coiled, as at c, as many times as may be desired, so as togive greater or less motion to the spring,'the number of coils beingincreased as greater degree of spring motion is requiredthree or fourcoils being usually found sufficient, though more or less may beemployed.

If desired, the thickness of the steel bar may be increased ordiminished in those parts which are thus coiled, a variation inthisrespeet allowing of a considerable corresponding variation in thestiffness of the springs.

From the points in the branches a a of the spring-bar a where the coilterminates to the inner end of the spring the branches a a extend in asubstantially horizontal plane, but are curved laterally, as shown inFigs. 2' and 4, in either direction that may be preferred, as shown byfull lines and dotted line in Fig. 4, but preferably outward. The innerends of the spring do not extend out as far from the coiled parts a asthe outer end of the spring, the difference in length being equal to thedistance between the point of attachment of the outer end of the springto the running-gear and of its inner end to the body of the vehicle, asshown in Fig. 3.

' Itwill be noticed that the inner end of each of the branches to" a ofthe spring beyond the coils 0 starts from the coil at a point below thetop of the coil, and near to and preferably at or below its center. Thisis an important feature of our improvement, as it enables us to set thebody of the vehicle much lower relatively to the runninggear, especiallyin sidebar vehicles, than could be done if the inner arms were at atangent to the upper part of their respective coils c. This feature isillustrated inFigs. 1, 2, and 3, which show the sill A of thevehicle-body cut away sufficiently to give room for theupwardly-projecting coils c of the spring. Near the inner extremity 0each of the short arms of the spring (as at f) is a-hole or eye for thepassage of a bolt, e, by which the inner extremities of the spring areattached to the body of the vehicle. A clip, g, is also used for morerigid attachment of th spring to the vehicle. g

thence branch outwardly. A clip, h, embracing both branches a a" neartheir point of bifurcation, secures them more firmly to the body of thevehicle.

In Fig. 4. the branches a a, of the steel bar are not separated sowidely from the point x of bifurcation, and extend to the inner end ofthe coils c 0, so that the branches a a beyond the coils c 0, thoughparallel, do not come together, but are separated by the length of thecoils. The construction shown in Fig. 2 gives somewhat greater firmnessand stability to the spring.

We have described ourspring as being made from a single bar of steeldoubled and then soldered or welded together part way; but as it isimportant that the two branches of the spring should be firmly united attheir outer end, the spring may be made from a piece of steel withoutdoubling by splitting it from the point of bifurcation x.

The special advantages of our invention result from the followingpeculiarities of construction: The making the double-coiled spring of asingle piece of steel, as described, secures a uniformity of temper inthe steel and of spring action, which it is very difiicult to attainwhere two springs made of different pieces of steel and probably atdifferent times are brought together under a vehicle. The rigid union ofthe two springs at their outer end, effected by making the device of asingle piece of steel, secures a consonance of action of the twobranches of the spring which cannot be equally well secured by the useof two separate springs fastened together by a clip or band. Thebifurcation of the two branches of the spring from a point about midwaybetween its outer end and the coiled portions gives a wider bearing tothe springs and a more uniform spring action. The projection of theinner ends of the spring from a point near to the center of. the coilsenables the body of the vehicle to be set very low on the running-gearand,finally, the horizontal curving of the inner ends or terminals ofthe springs permits of a greater or less bearing of the spring on thebodyof the vehicle, according to the degree of flare of spread given tothe points of attachment of the spring to the vehicle. In addition tothe advantages of con- 1. A vehiclespring composed of two reverse coils,each having a horizontal free bear ing-leg, said coils united to anintermediate bearing-leg common to both coils by converg- 5 ing armswhich unite at a point about equidistant from the center of the coil andthe end of the intermediate bearing-leg, the coil, converging arms, andlegs being integral, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

1o 2. The combination, with the body or bed having a coil-recess, of acoiled spring the bodyleg or branch of which extends from the coil atapoint below the top of the coil,whereby the coil of the spring ispartially concealed within the recess of the bed or body, substantiallyas and for the purposes specified.

3. Thevehicle-springhereinbefore described, consisting of two similarparts, each having a coiled portion, with two arms or branches ofunequal length extending in the same direction from opposite ends of thecoil, the shorter branch from each coil extending from the inner ends ofthe coil at a point below the top of the coil, and thence branchingoutward in an opposite direction from the other branch, to form twotermini for attachment to the Vehicle-body, and the longer branch fromeach coil extending from thebottom and outer end of the coil, and thenconverging until both of the longer branches meet, where they unite toform a single terminus of thespring for attachmentto the running-gear,the whole spring being formed of a single piece of steel, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set 5 our hands this 23d day ofJuly, A. D. 1884.

"WILLIAM W. GRIER. EDVIN F. BENGLER.

Witnesses:

J AMES H. PORIE, R. L. TREIBER.

